Back to Home Page

1.3 Drifting Continents

---

Vocabulary

---

continental drift:the idea that the continents slowly drifted across Earth's surface
fossil:any trace of ancient organism that was preserved in rock
pangaea:means"all lands", or that all continents were together

outline

---

The Theory of Continental Drift

• the hypothesis that all the continents were once joined together about 300 million years ago it was called pangaea
  • scientists got evidence from land forms,fossils and climate

Evidence from Landforms

---

• scientists found evidence from landforms. They say that the mountain range running from east to west in South Africa

lines up with a mountain range in Argentina. European coal fields match up with similar coal fields in Noth America.

Evidence from fossils

---

• Scientists used fossils to prove continental drift.
• the reptiles Mesosaurus and Lysrosaurus havebeen found in places now separated by oceans.

Example: Neither reptile could have swum great distances across salt water. If it therefore likely
that those retiles lived on a single landmass that has since split apart.

=

Evidence from Climate ----

=

• scientists used climates as examples for pangaea too.
  • Example: spitsbergen lies in the Artic Ocean north of Norway.

=

Scientist Reject Wegner's Theory ----

=

• Wegner continues
  • Even though the scientists reject Wegner's theory he kept on going
    • He even came up with another explanation on which how mountains form